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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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H.
S. Morrison Standing
with the best citizens of his County and state and a man whose sterling worth
and inherent human kindness endears him to all who know him is H. S. Morrison.
Jasper County can boast of no better all round man; no more affable,
courteous gentleman than he. He was
born in Orange County, New York, November 27, 1851, his father, H. S. Morrison,
Sr., and his mother. Harriet Mariah Jackson Sherman, being also natives of that
great state. The father was
born August 31, 1809, and died April 22, 1854, at the age of forty-six years,
dying in New York when the subject of this review was but three years old. The father was principally a farmer, although he kept a store
for a brief period. The mother,
born September 15, 1814, shortly after the death of her husband in 1856, removed
with her family to Wisconsin, where the business of farming was carried on until
1863, when the family came to Iowa, settling in Scott County.
Here land was rented and farming resumed, the sons doing the work.
In the fall of 1869 another move was made, this time to Jasper County,
the family settling upon a farm ten miles northeast of Newton, upon which they
remained until 1891, at which time the subject of this sketch and a brother,
together with the mother, moved into Newton, where they have remained ever
since. The mother died January 25,
1901, while making her home with her children. It
was something like forty-one years ago when Mr. Morrison, the subject of this
sketch, came to Jasper County, and settled on one hundred and sixty acres of raw
prairie. Newton was then but a
small town and wolves were plentiful, but he went to work with a stout heart and
built a small house. By untiring and earnest effort, he and his brothers came to
own over one thousand acres of land in the County.
At one time, the years of 1873-4, he operated a threshing machine in the
County. Mr.
Morrison is one of nine children, five boys and four girls, of whom four are
living, Mr. Harrison being the youngest of the family.
The living ones are: John W., who resides in Wisconsin, aged seventy-one
years. He has retired from active
business. He was a soldier in the
Northern army during the Civil War; Catherine E. Wallace, aged sixty-six, wife
of John Wallace, retired farmer, resides in Springfield, Pennsylvania; Sarah E.
Brown, aged sixty-two, wife of James M. Brown, a retired business man and Civil
War veteran, resides in Newton; the next and last is Mr. Morrison, of this
history. Upon
September 9, 1891, Mr. Morrison was united in marriage with Mattie Pickens,
daughter of James and Eliza (Gordon) Pickens, both of whom were natives of
Ireland, her parents having married in Ireland, and coming to America in 1868,
landing at New York. From New York
they came to Scott County, Iowa, where they remained for nine years, after which
they came to Jasper County, settling upon purchased land northeast of Newton. In
1899, Mrs. Morrison's father died, at the age of sixty-eight years. Her mother
is still living, making her home with a daughter, Mrs. David Paul, of Grinnell.
Iowa. Mrs. Morrison is one of six
children, namely: Mary A. Morrison,
born April 1, 1855, died December 24, 1902.
She married a brother of the subject of this review; Margaret H. Paul,
wife of David Paul, retired, resides in Grinnell, born March 4,l857; Thomas A.,
born May 14, 1859, resides in Newton; Eliza G. Bergman, wife of Henry G.
Bergman, a horse dealer of Newton, was born November 5, 1861; Hannah Lyman, wife
of J. Fred Lyman, a farmer, was born December 14, 1863, and resides in Rockwell
City, Iowa; Mattie B., wife of the subject of this sketch, was born July 7,
1868. To
Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have been born four children, all boys and all living at
home: Horace Henry, born August 28, 1892; Leland P., born October 21, 1895;
Charles William, born July 28, 1899; James Gordon, born May 16,1905. Both
Mr. and Mrs. Morrison are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Newton,
Mrs. Morrison being also a member of the Ladies' Aid Society and the Woman's
Missionary Society. She is a
teacher in-the Sunday school, an earnest worker in the church and a most
interesting and estimable woman. Mr.
Morrison is also a teacher in the Sabbath school and for sixteen years has been
ruling elder in his church. He is
also a member of Newton Lodge No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of
Gebal Chapter No. 12, Royal Arch Masons. Always
an active temperance worker, he is a member of the Anti-Saloon League, has
served as director, secretary and treasurer of County schools and justice of the
peace of his Township. He is also
vice-president of the Farmers Mutual Fire and Lightning Insurance Company. At
one time Mr. Morrison engaged in the hardware business in Newton for eight
years, selling out to go to California. He
remained there but one year, however, when he returned to Newton.
He traces his family back to the Revolution and is eligible to Join the
Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 621. |
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